Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of the Patriotic Garden

Dick Blume/The Post StandardRed, white and blue flowers will help make the Fourth festive.

It's July 4, which means Central New Yorkers are making red, white and blue cupcakes today, hanging flags on their porches and buying paper products covered in stars and stripes.

There's no reason that Independence Day theme can't trickle into the garden, gardening experts say.

Kathy Bardwell, general manager of the garden center at Dickman Farms in Auburn, said it's fairly common for people to plant containers full of red, white and blue flowers before a Fourth of July party. Stick a little flag in the container, she said, and you have a great party decoration.

Also, she added, you can easily plant red, white and blue annuals into your garden today for an instant patriotic makeover that will last all summer.

Chuck Hafner, owner of Hafner's Garden Center in North Syracuse, said it would cost about $15 to give your garden a July Fourth look.

Here are some ideas from Hafner and Bardwell about summer annuals that could be planted in time for your afternoon barbecue.

For the red: Pick up some red geraniums. At about $4 a plant, they can be planted today and will thrive until the first frost, Hafner said. They do well in direct sunlight or in some shade.

For the white: Try white superbells. This calibrachoa looks like a miniature petunia, Hafner said. At $4.40 a plant at Hafner's, the superbells also thrive in direct sunlight or some shade.

For the blue: Wave petunias will give a bright pop of blue. At $7 a plant at Hafner's, they will survive until the first frost.

"Most people plant in May, but you could still plant them now," Hafner said. "Because it's late (in the planting season), they are sold as individual plants. These are summer annuals in bigger pots."

All three plants, he said, can take full sunlight and a little bit of shade. All three are hardy and will do well in the Central New York summer.

''They would look really nice (in a combination)," he said. "They will bloom all summer until the frost."

The combo, he said, could do well in either the ground or in a large pot. If planting in the ground, he said, make sure the plants are well hydrated until they are well established. If planting in a pot, be sure to water them every day because the roots have limited growth potential.

"Make a Fourth of July corner in your garden," he said. "Put a little flag in there, and you could do it all for $15."

But what about next year's Fourth of July? Bardwell said there are several perennials that can bloom beautiful red, white and blue flowers for years to come.

Try veronica, bachelor's button or baptisia for the blues, Bardwell advised. For the white, Shasta daisy, foxglove and arenaria will work nicely, she said. And for the reds, monarda and dianthus are great options, she said.

In times of war, she said, more people tend to incorporate the flag's colors into their gardens.

"There are some people who definitely plant red, white and blue," she said. "It depends on what's going on in history."